2017 Annual HIMSS Conference Review!

Thanks to everyone who made this year’s annual conference one of our best yet!

The North Carolina Chapter of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society held their annual conference on May 3 & 4 at the Hilton North Raleigh/Midtown Hotel in Raleigh, NC. This year’s event focused on Technologies to Improve Outcomes in the healthcare IT space and provided an opportunity for almost 275 attendees representing healthcare delivery organizations from across the southeast to come together to learn the latest and best practices in healthcare IT. In addition, 30 companies exhibited their latest products and services.

John P. Hoyt, FACHE, FHIMSS, Executive Vice President Emeritus with HIMSS Analytics, opened the event, providing an informational session on Acute Care EMRAM Changes for 2018. Dr. John Showalter, MD, MSIS, University of Mississippi Medical Center & Leigh Williams, MHIIM, RHIA, CPC, CPHIMS, University of Virginia Health System, discussed how engaging patients, providers, and health systems in change initiatives is critically important and reviewed the strategies and tactics for engaging physicians and healthcare colleagues in a meaningful way in a broad spectrum of change initiatives, during their plenary session, Mastering Engagement in Healthcare Initiatives.

Building upon Leigh Williams and Dr. Showalter’s presentation, Dan Bruno, COO, & Boyd Carlson, Chief Enterprise Architect, Duke Health System, reviewed how Duke Health IT has worked over the last four years to improve the “strategy problem” by trying to create a documented IT strategy that is not an annual shelf-ware document. They walked the attendees through their goals which included representing the internal IT strategy to develop new and improved services, as well as readily connect to the evolving business strategies. “This session was incredibly helpful, made the conference worth it”, said one attendee.

In addition to the plenary sessions, the two-day event included educational sessions on pertinent healthcare technology. Topics covered ranged from Cybersecurity to MACRA to Enhanced EPIC Service Management, to Clinical Informatics and Clinical Engagement.
To enhance the formal education, 30 companies sponsored the NC HIMSS Chapter and displayed their latest products and services. For fun, the group tested their bowling and game skills with a networking reception hosted at Kings Bowling Center.

This event had a record number of registrations, excellent educational content, and plenty of time for networking. “Each year our annual conference continues grow as we work to serve and advance the Healthcare IT industry throughout the state of North Carolina,” said Terry Jackson, NC HIMSS president.

If you would like more information about becoming involved with NC HIMSS, please contact Linda at linda@nchimss.org.